Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine names dean

The Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech has named a new dean. Dr. Cyril R. Clarke will start as dean on Oct. 1.

Clarke is professor and dean of Oregon State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. He will succeed Gerhardt G. Schurig, who will return to the faculty after 10 years as interim dean and dean of the veterinary college. He was a faculty member at Oklahoma State University from 1987 to 2007, where he also served as a department head and associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Clarke, a native of Johannesburg, South Africa, will serve as the fourth dean of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine.

He is a member of the board of directors for the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges, and chairs its data committee. He also is a member of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board and a past president of the American College of Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

He received a bachelor of veterinary sciences degree from the University of Pretoria, South Africa, in 1981 and a doctorate in veterinary medical sciences from Louisiana State University in 1987. In 2000, he obtained a master’s degree in higher education from Oklahoma State University.

The Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine is a biomedical teaching and research center, enrolling more than 500 Doctor of Veterinary Medicine students, master of public health, and biomedical and veterinary sciences graduate students. The college’s main campus is in Blacksburg with locations in Leesburg and College Park, Md.